Socialists As Parasites
Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 7 months ago to Philosophy
""I talked of spider's webs. There's a curious parasitic wasp, very tiny, of the genus Hymenoepimecis - a clever little creature that stings a spider into temporary paralysis, and lays its eggs in the spider's abdomen. Soon the spider goes back to work, as if nothing had happened, even as the larvae grow inside him, nourished in its fluids. Then, on the night the larvae will molt and kill the spider, they chemically induce it to change its behavior. On this night, the spider is induced to spin a cocoon web, useless to the spider but necessary for the larva. As soon as the spider has finished its work, the larvae consume the spider and hang the pupal cocoon in the special web. It's quite extraordinary, really, the parasite's fine-grained manipulation of the host's behavior. But its nothing compared to what we humans can devise. That's the sort of thing I think about, Ms. Navarro. Who's inside of us? What forces might be manipulating the apparatus of civil governance into building a web that will serve their own purposes? When will the parasite decide to consume the host?""
Robert Ludlum The Sigma Protocol
Perhaps instead of treating Socialism as an illogical philosophy, we should be treating it as a disease - a parasite. Over the past hundred years or so it has implanted its larvae into our schools from grade to graduate, all branches of all levels of government, business, entertainment, and news. I understand that Objectivism is the answer on an intellectual level. I wonder what can be done on a physical level to kill the parasite before it kills its host - America?
Robert Ludlum The Sigma Protocol
Perhaps instead of treating Socialism as an illogical philosophy, we should be treating it as a disease - a parasite. Over the past hundred years or so it has implanted its larvae into our schools from grade to graduate, all branches of all levels of government, business, entertainment, and news. I understand that Objectivism is the answer on an intellectual level. I wonder what can be done on a physical level to kill the parasite before it kills its host - America?
We in the Gulch spend most of our time talking or planning on running away instead of following Jefferson's common sense admonition. America is Galt's Gulch! We should be willing to fight for it!
Notice that the times America has been the strongest in our history were when we had to struggle and fight for our freedoms. We haven't really had to do that since WW II. Apathy has set in amongst the majority. Only those who are vigilant recognize the warning signs, but our cries fall on the deaf ears of those who do not wish to see the truth.
I am amazed at the idiots. Otherwise intelligent, successful people who live in some fugue state in which they know wealth distribution and the deleterious effects of government regulation will never touch them. This is where the story of the frog slowly being boiled to death comes into play.
The others are poverty stricken to lower middle class folk who feel entitled to what you produce because they have had "bad luck." Their present circumstances apparently have nothing to do with any of their previous decisions. Outside situations beyond their control have caused all their problems.
Idiots and you're-lucky-so-you-owe-mes.
Ayn Rand
Thanks for reawakening old dino's memory about the boiling frog.
When Glenn Beck had a TV show, he switched a dead-looking toy frog for a live frog he claimed to be slowly boiling.
I never thought to look "slowly boiling frog" up until now--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_fro...
Socialism is something people really do not understand but the vote in favor of it because it promises "free" things. Conservatism is popular with some because it promises to keep things as they are. Objectivism is beyond scary to the great majority of people because nothing is free and you can change if you want to.
Have you ever tried to explain TANSTAAFL to a socialist? They just don't get it. If they don't pay it's FREE! (For anyone not familiar with Heinlein "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch," TANSTAAFL is an expression he used in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and perhaps other writings.)
We few here in the gulch understand that socialists are parasites, but they don't see it that way. In fact their view is that the rich are the parasites. They are not capable of distinguishing between people who earn their wealth and people who steal it.
In the Darwinian scheme of selection for survival, the parasites have managed to make their victims compliant through guilt and pity.
Interesting that Heinlein in that book also refers to "Randites"!
The socialist meme is especially seductive because it allows the moochers to rationalize their predations without guilt. In fact, they pride themselves sanctimoniously for their love of humanity and "social justice".
"You became a villain, but that's what villains do. They make themselves happy at the expense of others but it just makes them more unhappy! I know what it is to feel your heart go dark and that isn't something to idolize. It's something to pity".
Now replace villain with liberal or progressive and reread the quote. Sad!!!
Whether we milk a cow or our fellow man, the unthinking goal is to benefit ourselves. Profit is the value of gain over the cost of effort. In a highly complex society as we now have, the lines of milk extraction are so convoluted and blurred that people don't even notice it happening to them. And those who do notice and object are told they need to share, to be their brother's keeper, and "to give back". Of course, those who benefit, by whatever means, are not the ones who object.
Philosophers through the ages have tried to define the right, fair, moral formula for human coexistence, the "golden mean", the "Golden Rule" in all its variations. Trade, the voluntary exchange of values for mutual benefit, is the non-exploitive answer, and it is encoded in Galt's Oath.
So, yes, we could define the socialist or predatory meme as a parasitic disease, an intellectual and moral virus. How to get that across to the majority of do-gooders who think of socialism/liberalism/progressivism as just helping their fellow man, as egalitarian fairness, is the historic challenge of our time.
It may be in the teens, after reaching the so-called age of reason, that a young person can re-evaluate the indoctrinations received in the formative years and clean out the mess of faulty ideas accepted before the child could have a full context for understanding what was imposed. There is a saying in the Catholic Church, "Give me a child before the age of 8 and he'll be a Catholic forever." Fortunately that didn't work with me.
The problem with a late-coming overhaul is that many of the inculcated values are wedded to emotions, and those are much harder to change because they are defended with ingenious rationalizations.
"Not thinking is not part of human nature" -- well put. Rational thinking, however, takes effort and will, and a willingness to revise or let go of preprogrammed ideas.
This economy of effort is not an exclusively human invention. It applies throughout living things. A lion knows when to stop running after a gazelle. A tree will bend toward the sunlight. A penguin will waddle 30 km for food. These are not driven by thought but by the built-in algorithm of life. Humans do have the capacity for thought, so they invent labor-saving devices when needed, beginning with the earliest tools. The formula is always the most gain for the least effort.
osophy that is taught in the colleges. So maybe
a good strategy would be: if you are in college,
promote Objectivism to your fellow students. If you
are not, boycott the colleges. (Maybe an Object-tivist college could be started someday, but it
is not around yet).
From one who knows.
https://www.aynrand.org/educators/free-b...
Start Over?
The next time do it right?
Hope or pray the military upholds it's oath of office?
Do not vote for the lesser or greater of two evils
Do not make the best of four very bad choices
Do not support the Government Party.
At Any Level
alcoholism or other addiction, now favored with
the title "disease," the parasitic trio of socialism,
fascism and communism should get that title also! -- j
.
Of course, to many, the idea of tax funded vouchers for education is less that ideal, it would be a step in the right direction. To put it in the terms of the health care debate, it would be "single payer education".
With the resulting market for providing private schools, entrepreneurs would be able to start schools and, at least at some level, introduce capitalism to education.
Of course the teacher's union and the school system itself is desperately fighting against them so this is not an easy fight. Nevertheless it does seem like it has at least a chance of growing.
Once people have vouchers to pay for education then a market is available for us to meet. With educational costs exceeding 10K per student per year there's a lot of potential for someone who actually knows how to run a business to build an efficient school.
It still leaves the government with a significant amount of control but would be a step in the right direction. We have to start somewhere, we are not going to convince the current educational system to promote our values.